


Perchance to Dream

by flaming_muse



Category: Glee
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-07
Updated: 2011-06-07
Packaged: 2017-10-20 05:35:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/209308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flaming_muse/pseuds/flaming_muse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finn hates finals.  Blaine loves <i>Hamlet</i>.  Kurt takes a nap.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perchance to Dream

**Author's Note:**

> set after 2x22 (“New York”) but before the end of the school year

Finals suck. Okay, all exams suck, but Finn thinks final exams suck more than regular exams because teachers want you to remember _everything_ from the _whole year_ , and because they’re the last exam of the year they count for, like, a million percent of your grade, so if you blank out on a war or a country or something or weren’t paying attention when the teacher explained the difference between sine and cosine because it was a really nice day outside you’re totally screwed.

Finn _is_ totally screwed. Not because he forgot a war (this time) but because he’s been studying this play for, like, _days_ , and it still doesn’t make any sense. He’s got his English exam tomorrow, and he knows _Hamlet_ will be on it because Ms. Barnes made sure to tell them that and also to tell them that watching the movie wouldn’t tell them what they needed to pass, and he is _so fucking screwed_.

He falls back on his bed with a thump and wonders how long he’ll be grounded when he fails. Rachel is going to be furious that he’ll mess up their dating schedule.

“Fuck,” he says, but not very loudly, because he doesn’t need Kurt to get all superior at him for the lack of creativity in his vocabulary. Again.

Really, though, there are a lot of good things about his mom having married Burt, and living with Kurt is one of them, at least most of the time. It isn’t so good when he’s being yelled at for getting sunburned or leaving the milk on the counter, but it’s great when he wants to be able to talk with somebody who kind of gets things (better than he does, anyway) or who can help with his homework.

So Finn picks up the paperback of the play where he’d tossed it across the room and goes to find Kurt. Kurt’s door is partially open, so he doesn’t wait for an answer to his knock and just goes inside.

He doesn’t expect to find Blaine there, too.

“Sorry, sorry,” Finn says, ready to back the hell out of there, only he notices that they aren’t in a horizontal lip-lock like the last time he barged in (and, yes, now he knows to knock, especially when the door is closed and their parents aren’t home). He still can’t quite get the image out of his head of Kurt’s hands under Blaine’s shirt, and although he knows guys don’t have boobs and so it isn’t, like, the same base or whatever he still apologized for a week about interrupting until Kurt told him if he ever mentioned it again he’d throw out all of Finn’s favorite foods and replace them with whole grain substitutes.

So, anyway, Finn doesn’t have to worry about any of that, because they’re not kissing. Instead, Blaine is propped up against the headboard against a ton of pillows, one hand holding a book and the other resting on Kurt’s shoulder. Kurt is curled up on his side facing him, flat on the bed, with his forehead tucked against Blaine’s hip and one arm draped over his legs, his fingers clutching the denim at Blaine’s far knee. He seems to be breathing but isn’t otherwise moving.

“He’s asleep,” Blaine tells Finn in a low voice. He smiles apologetically. “He’s been out like a light for about an hour; he hasn’t even twitched.”

Finn frowns at Kurt, who looks actually kind of peaceful, and then back at Blaine, who looks pretty darn peaceful, too. “Isn’t that kind of rude of him?”

Blaine chuckles and rubs a soothing circle on Kurt’s shoulder. He doesn’t even seem to know he’s doing it. “It’s fine. I came over to keep him company while he studied for finals. I think he needs the rest more than the study time.”

“Yeah, he’s always saying that Dalton was way harder. I don’t know why he’s studying at all.”

“Just because Dalton has a more rigorous curriculum doesn’t mean that it covered the same material,” Blaine says. “He’s had a lot of catching up to do.”

Finn hadn’t really thought about that, that Kurt was behind at both Dalton and McKinley because of his transfers. Wow. “That sucks,” he says, heartfelt.

Blaine just nods.

“I should - “ Finn gestures back toward the door. “Or, can I get you something? Like, do you need your other books or something?”

“I’m fine,” Blaine tells him with a smile. “Thanks. My exams were last week, so I’m reading for pleasure.” He holds up the book in his hand.

“Okay. I guess I’ll go back to - “ Finn frowns at his own book.

“Oh, _Hamlet_!”

“Yeah. I’ve got a test on it on Monday.”

“It’s a great play,” Blaine says with actual enthusiasm.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I love it.”

Finn looks at Blaine in a whole new light. He’s obviously smart, because he’s doing well at Dalton, and he’s kind of nice, a lot nicer than Kurt, actually.

“I don’t really get it,” he admits, testing the waters.

“ _Hamlet_?”

“Yeah.”

“Any particular part?”

Finn is used to feeling stupid; he’s dated Quinn and Rachel and lives with Kurt. It causes him very little embarrassment to say, “All of it?”

Blaine gives him this weird half-laugh, but it feels more fond than mocking, and pats the bed on the other side from Kurt. “Sit. Let’s see if we can clear things up some.”

“What about - ?” Finn gestures at Kurt..

“If he were going to wake up from us talking he probably would have already, don’t you think?” Blaine sort of pets him again, rubbing Kurt’s shoulder with a gentle hand, and Finn can’t decide if it’s weird to see a guy being so sweet or just kind of nice. He settles on nice and pulls a chair over to sit by Blaine.

“Thanks, dude.”

Blaine smiles and shrugs, and that he isn’t making it clear that it’s a horrible imposition is also a nice change from talking to Kurt, even though Finn is pretty sure Kurt doesn’t actually mean it. “Okay, so do you at least have a grasp of the basic plot?”

“Yeah. I think so.” Finn nods to himself. “Yeah. I mean, I’ve seen the movie.”

“Which one?” Blaine asks.

“There’s more than one?”

“You know what? Never mind. Tell me something that doesn’t make sense to you.” Blaine tilts his head and waits, his expression open and eager to help.

Finn takes a deep breath and tries to organize his thoughts. He realizes as he does that he actually thinks he understands the back and forth of the plot; all of the drama in New Directions makes the play seem simple in comparison. He tries to pinpoint something that stands out as confusing. “Okay, so I get the whole being pissed that his mother might have helped kill his father thing, but I don’t get why it’s such a big deal that she married his uncle. I mean, it’s not like she married _her_ brother. But my teacher went on and on about that.”

“Well, back in the day, when you got married you sort of became one person, or at least like a brother and sister. So it _was_ kind of like her marrying her own brother.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Henry the Eighth had to get special dispensation from the pope to marry his older brother’s widow.”

Finn frowns down at the book in his hand. “I thought the king was named Claudius.”

“Right. Forget Henry. Think of it this way. Imagine that you and - “ Blaine pauses and asks, “You’re dating Rachel again, right?”

Finn nods; he doesn’t know why it is so hard for people to follow along.

“Okay, imagine that you, uh, let’s make this less tragic. Imagine you and Rachel break up.” _Again_ , Finn thinks, but Blaine continues on, oblivious to the workings of Finn’s mind. “I bet you’d be pretty upset if she started to date Kurt.”

“Kurt’s _gay_ , dude,” Finn says automatically, then blinks and remembers who he was talking to. “Which you know.”

Blaine laughs and maybe blushes a little. “I’m pretty much counting on it. But for the sake of the argument, let’s pretend that I don’t exist and Kurt’s a little more... flexible.”

“Oh! Like when he dated Brittany!”

“Sure,” Blaine says slowly. “So how would you feel about it?”

Finn thinks for a minute. “I’d be pretty pissed. I mean, Puck’s broken the bro code a bunch of times, and it made me really mad. If _Kurt_ did it...” He imagines having family dinners with Kurt and Rachel making googly eyes at each other across the table. There are so many things wrong with that picture that he can’t even start to describe them. “I would probably want to break something. Lots of things. It wouldn’t be cool at all. Brothers shouldn’t do that.”

“Exactly. So in the play Claudius wants and then marries Gertrude, who is his sister-in-law, and to Hamlet that’s breaking their version of the bro code. Not to mention murder.”

A light dawns for Finn. “ _Oh._ I can see why Hamlet’s mad. That’s awesome.”

“Just don’t explain it using the words ‘bro code’ and you’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” Finn says, nodding. “Cool. Thanks.” He smiles broadly, relieved beyond words.

Blaine smiles back. “What else?” he asks, but his attention immediately snaps to Kurt, who is taking a deep breath and whose hand has tightened in Blaine’s jeans.

“I knew him, Horatio,” Kurt murmurs in a thick, sleep-filled voice against Blaine’s hip.

“Shh,” Blaine tells him, but the damage is done; Kurt lifts his head.

He sees Blaine first and gives him a warm smile. “Hi,” he says so gently that Finn feels like he’s intruded on something more intimate than the whole horizontal kissing thing.

“Hi,” Blaine says back.

“Uh,” Finn says, standing and almost knocking over his chair.

Kurt sits upright abruptly like a marionette whose strings have been pulled taut. All of the sleepy softness is gone and has been replaced by a wariness Finn knows all too well. “Finn? What are you doing in here?”

“I’m helping him study,” Blaine says, sliding his hand soothingly along Kurt’s arm. “I’m sorry we disturbed you.”

“You asked Blaine for help?” Kurt says slowly, and he’s got this confused look on his face like he’s not sure if he likes the idea or not.

“You were asleep,” Finn explains.

Blaine curls his fingers around Kurt’s hand where it rests on the bed. “And I took Shakespeare for English last semester, so...”

“He really helped,” Finn says.

Kurt relaxes just a little, flipping his hand over to hold Blaine’s in return. “I see.” Glancing at the book Finn’s clutching to his chest, he asks, “Is that why I was dreaming of Mr. Schue singing to a skull? Really, the man should not wear tights, despite black being a good color for everyone.”

Finn has no idea what Kurt’s talking about, though that’s not a surprise, but Blaine just smiles at him like he’s the best thing in the world.

“I should - “ Finn jerks his head toward the door.

“No, if you have more questions about Hamlet, I - ” Blaine begins, clearly torn.

“It’s cool, dude. You’re staying for dinner, right?”

Blaine glances at Kurt, who raises his eyebrows back in a way that is probably really meaningful, but Finn has no idea _what_ they’re supposed to mean. He feels that way about some of Rachel’s looks sometimes. “I am,” Blaine says.

“Then maybe we can talk some more later. I’m going to go re-read the stuff that confused me, now that I get Hamlet’s bro code.”

“Okay.” Blaine smiles at him, and Kurt doesn’t glare daggers, so Finn figures his snacks are probably safe.

“ _Bro code_?” Kurt asks archly as Finn pulls the door mostly closed behind him.

“What?” Blaine replies. He obviously isn’t fazed in the slightest by Kurt’s tone of voice. He is a stronger man than Finn is. “It makes sense.”

Kurt laughs, and it’s not even one of his ‘I’m better than you’ laughs. “You are better at speaking straight boy than I am,” he says.

“Well, I almost explained the issue of affinity in _Hamlet_ by asking Finn if he thought it was okay if you and I broke up for me to start dating _him_ , so it’s kind of a toss up.”

“ _Excuse me_?” Finn feels the same level of horror that Kurt’s voice suggests.

Blaine sounds kind of nervous when he says quickly, “Not that we’re breaking up. Or that I want to date Finn. I just needed brothers as an example, and I - “

“I don’t even want the mental image, Blaine. Stop. Please.”

“Sorry.”

“I should hope so.” There’s a little pause, and then Kurt says more loudly, “I’m going to kiss him now, Finn, so unless you want to explore the wonders of whole wheat you should stop standing in the hallway!”

Finn retreats as fast as his feet can carry him but not before he hears Blaine break down in helpless laughter that is stopped short by what Finn can only assume is Kurt’s threatened kiss.

Still, he’s smiling as he flops down on his bed. Not only does he have a chance not to fail his exam, but he kind of feels all warm inside that Kurt’s so happy with Blaine. Which makes sense, because Blaine is a cool guy, and he’s kind of ridiculously sweet to Kurt. And Kurt is nice back, in his own Kurt way. So that’s good. That’s good.

Thinking of their relationship makes him miss Rachel, even though he saw her yesterday. He looks at the clock and wonders if he can read fast enough that he could go out for ice cream or something with her after dinner. Maybe he should invite Kurt and Blaine along. Double dating as brothers sounds kind of cool, as long as their dates stay their own.

Finn can’t help but think, though, how nice it must be for Kurt to have a boyfriend who seems to be so supportive and easygoing. He can’t imagine Rachel hanging out like that. For a second, he finds himself picturing lazy Saturday afternoons playing video games and singing together, and it’s really, really nice... and then he realizes that the person he’s picturing doing it with is Blaine and not Rachel.

“Not cool. Not cool,” he mutters to himself. “Bro code. And not gay. Not cool.”

Still, as he gets back to _Hamlet_ , he wonders what the bro code says about inviting your brother’s boyfriend over to hang out, nothing weird, just as kind of mellow guys. Blaine would probably know. Finn might try to slip in a question about it when they talk about the play again after dinner.


End file.
